Eventually, I believe, current attempts to understand the mind by analogy with man-made computers that can perform superbly some of the same external tasks as conscious beings will be recognized as a gigantic waste of time.
Thomas NagelA theory of motivation is defective if it renders intelligible behaviour which is not intelligible.
Thomas Nagelfundamentally an organism has conscious mental states if and only if there is something that it is like to be that organism--something it is like for the organism.
Thomas NagelEach of our lives is a part of the lengthy process of the universe gradually waking up and becoming aware of itself.
Thomas NagelEverything, living or not, is constituted from elements having a nature that is both physical and nonphysical - that is, capable of combining into mental wholes. So this reductive account can also be described as a form of panpsychism: all the elements of the physical world are also mental.
Thomas Nagel